RIP Reagan

Former President Ronald Reagan died today at age 93. As you're bombarded with media "packages" that the networks have had canned for the past 5 years in preparation for this day, remember that he was not the saint current Republicans would like to make him out to be. And this is so true:

Prediction: Reagan is going to be Dubya's virtual running mate.

I'm not yet sure how they'll do it, but you can bet Rove is cooking up ways to imprint the Reagan-Bush II connection on the minds of every U.S. voter. I bet Bush will give at least one more heavily televised pseudo-eulogy linking the "great accomplishments" of Reagan with his own "war on terror."

UPDATE: More perspective from someone who recognizes that Reagan was not the saint some people would have us believe.

See also:

• the Rotten Reagan Biography,
• Whiskey Bar's take and the many thoughtful comments that follow; it's an excellent thumbnail sketch of the parts of the Reagan years you're not likely to see much of on tv today or in the coming days [link via Notes from the (Legal) Underground]
• Europe Recalls Reagan Fondly, Arabs Don't:

  Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said he was sorry that Reagan died without standing trial for 1986 air strikes he ordered that killed Gadhafi's adopted daughter and 36 other people.

  Reagan ordered the April 15, 1986, air raid in response to a disco bombing in Berlin allegedly ordered by Gadhafi that killed two U.S. soldiers and a Turkish woman and injured 229 people.

  "I express my deep regret because Reagan died before facing justice for his ugly crime that he committed in 1986 against the Libyan children," Libya's official JANA news agency quoted Gadhafi as saying Sunday.

  
  
• Reflections from Glorfindel of Gondolin, Musclehead, and Half-Cocked.
• Steve Gilliard's take, including a huge comment thread.
• USA Today: Upbeat Reagan reminded USA to believe in itself. And we all want to feel good, right? Even and especially when we don't deserve to.
• Salon: The Regan legacy by Rick Perlstein
• The Gipper's Dark Side by Charles Taylor
• The rich got richer by James K. Galbraith (on Reagan's "voodoo economics")
• Reagan without sentimentality by Joe Conason: "He told us government was the problem -- and his corruption-plagued administration made sure of it."
• Reagan backers want hero on U.S. currency.
• Still the Teflon President?
• Reagan's funeral guided by the past: a meagre attempt to put all the pomp and circumstance into some kind of context.
• State funeral will feature rare pageantry:

  Rich with military symbolism, state funerals in Europe date back centuries for royalty or such figures as Lord Nelson, the British admiral slain at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

  The founding fathers of the United States didn't have state funerals. Plans to bury George Washington in the U.S. Capitol were set aside, in part because such an interment struck some patriots as too reminiscent of British royal burials in Westminster Abbey.

• Tips on visiting Washington to pay respects to Reagan
• Once a scarlet woman, Nancy is turned into a role model.
• The other side of Reagan: Perspectives from the international press.
• Reagan's Shameful Legacy: Mourn for us, Not the Proto Bush" by Ted Rall
• Let's bury Reaganomics with its founder.

Posted 09:25 PM | Comments (3) | general politics

CrimPro Crash Course

Today promises to be the most important day of the summer internship thus far: The lead attorney in our office (the public defender) will be giving us a 4-hour crash course in criminal procedure. More than half of my fellow interns are rising 3Ls who have had CrimPro already, so they're not looking forward to this. The rest of us, the so-called "rising 2Ls," are waiting with baited breath for all of the stuff we've been observing/working on to start to make more sense. How does the puzzle fit together? I hope to know a lot more about that by this afternoon.

Meanwhile, two more quick lessons from court: First, don't smoke PCP before showing up for your trial. Second, don't spend the 10 minutes in lockup before your hearing verbally abusing the attorney who is about to be an advocate on your behalf. After that kind of behavior (which could be heard throughout the courtroom even through the heavy lockup door), the judge is not likely to find you very credible when you then ask to be released because you're not a threatening person.

Posted 05:59 AM | 1L summer

Fahrenheit 9/11 coming June 25th

Mark your calendars for June 25th, the opening night for "Fahrenheit 9/11." See the trailer now. (Thanks to Screaming Bean for the heads up.)

It's just coincidence that George Tenent resigned on the same day that this film's trailer went online, right? And those two events couldn't possibly relate in any way to the fact that G.W. Bush has begun consulting attorneys about the unmasking of Valerie Plame, right?

Somewhat related anecdote: While L. and I were biking down around the Mall last Saturday (the day of the big WWII Memorial dedication), we saw a younger guy (late 20s, maybe?) wearing a t-shirt with a big photo of George Bush on the front and big letters reading "Terrorist in Chief." The guy was being heckled by some older men (in their 50s-60s, I'd guess) who were yelling at him saying the shirt was disrespectful. The hecklers were right in one sense — the t-shirt does not show respect for Bush. But the hecklers may be wrong in another since because by showing disrespect for Bush the t-shirt arguably shows respect for the U.S. Constitution and general American ideals of democracy and justice. As energy spatula helpfully explained in these comments, for many veterans (and others, I'm sure), support for the president comes down to a matter of faith:

My grandfather is old-school...he believes in the government and in following orders. He doesn't think the CinC would send us to war without a just reason. Both of them say that it's hard to express to other people what it is that makes you want to serve your country...and I agree. I often have people ask me how I could have joined/served/stayed in the military...for all the reasons you mentioned. And, without overusing a tired cliche, I don't know if I can describe it. You just believe that ultimately you're doing something that's right for America...

I understand that and share the sentiment to some extent — in many ways lots of things in life come down to matters of faith. However, it seems there's a point at which faith becomes blind, and beyond that point I fear it often does more harm than good. I doubt a film like "Fahrenheit 9/11" will convert blind faith into more critical faith for many viewers; the blindly faithful likely won't want to see it, or if they do they'll just be looking for ways to discredit or dismiss the film. And there's sure to be plenty of material in the film to criticize. The point is not that Moore is telling us the unvarnished truth while Bush and Co. are telling nothing but lies. The point is that we owe it to ourselves, our country, the world, to be critical of the stories we're being told, and not to accept those stories blindly. I'm looking forward to "Fahrenheit 9/11" for what it will add to the pool of stories from which Americans decide where to place their faith.

Posted 05:22 AM | ai movies

Lessons from court

One of the great benefits of my summer position is the time I get to spend in court. So far, it seems I spend 1-4 hours in court, 2-3 days each week, depending on what my attorney has going on and how many times I'm doing advisements. In just the first couple of weeks I've learned a huge amount about procedure, what the different people in court do, how prosecutors and defense attorneys interact, the powerful role of the sheriff's deputies, and how to advise a pro se (representing him/herself) misdemeanor defendant to ask for 90 days to pay court costs. I'm sure just sitting in court is increasing my comfort level being there, and that can only be a good thing for when I have to go before a judge as an attorney. And even if that day never comes, I'm sure the experience is also paving the way for a much easier time next year in Criminal Procedure class. I knew it would be, but after a couple of weeks, I can say for sure that spending time in court is a great thing for a law student.

Read on for a few other little anecdotal lessons I've learned from being in court...

1) Do not procrastinate: In the process of moving from one apartment to another, the defendant or a friend who was helping placed three dresser drawers in the back (hatchback) of his car. Three-four weeks later, the defendant was pulled over for driving with a cracked windshield. He readily consented to a police search of his car, and police quickly found two crack pipes and a couple of syringes among the random items in one of the drawers. The defendant was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. He claimed the drawers were "junk" drawers filled with items he never used, which is why he left them in his car so long—it was all stuff he didn't really need. He also claimed he had no clue where the pipes came from, but suspected a former girlfriend had hidden them there and forgotten about them. Perhaps the defendant was lying, but he's also been working at a good job for 40-50 hours/week for the last five years and has otherwise stayed out of trouble, so he doesn't seem like a big crackhead. Bottom line: If the defendant had simply cleaned out his car when he moved, he never would have been charged with anything more than driving with a cracked windshield. Next time you're moving, finish the job or you may end up in court!

2) Do not bring crack or crack-smoking paraphernalia with you to court: I mentioned this one the other day, but it's a valuable lesson worth repeating. The defendant was appearing in court for trial on a traffic violation. She was sentenced to 10 days in jail when and deputies took her into custody and inventoried her possessions they found crack and drug paraphernalia. Now she faces possession charges. And this sounds insane, but it's not the first time it's happened in this court. People, come one! When you go to court, leave your crack at home!

3) Don't be completely insane in court: If a defendant wants to speak in court, a defense attorney has to let him or her do so. Here, a defendant spontaneously asked a police witness, "Does your self remember when my self told you that I'm the light of the world and I control the planets telepathically?" Needless to say, this wasn't really a positive move for the defense.

4) When your objection is overruled, you've challenged that ruling, and the judge has stood firm, don't raise the same objection again five seconds later—even when you're right. This happened to a prosecutor and the judge exploded from the bench. Swinging around in his chair to glare bullets at the prosecutor, his face red as a beet, the judge shouted, "I guess what you'd like is that everything against the defendant comes in, but nothing in his favor should ever enter this room. Is that right? The prosecutor was basically speechless, and the rest of the court was frozen in shock. After a moment, the prosecutor tried to begin an explanation, but the judge cut her off. "Your objection has been overruled. Do you have any power to overrule that ?" The prosecutor sat down, and the judge swung back to listen to the defense attorney, who did a great job continuing as if nothing had happened. Perhaps you had to be there, but trust me, it was an electric moment. A judge shouting down a prosecutor in a courtroom on behalf of the defendant!? Of course, the judge ruled for the prosecution, but still, it was a priceless thing to see.

5) If you steal someone's purse and cell phone, don't immediately use the phone to call 911 to brag about it to the police. This isn't from court, exactly, just a story my attorney told me. A defendant actually did this. The 911 call is hilarious.

Posted 05:22 AM | Comments (3) | 1L summer

Mount Vernon Trail

Last Sunday, in my first bike ride of the summer, I took a little spin on the Mount Vernon Trail (see map). I didn't want to be too ambitious, so I just went as far as Old Town, Alexandria, which I believe is just a little more than halfway to Mount Vernon. As many others can attest, this is a popular ride/run/walk, and for good reason. The trail is generally smooth and the scenery is varied and sometimes quite beautiful. Between my apartment and Alexandria, I saw downtown D.C. (not bad, scenery-wise, as far as cities go—there's a monuments everywhere you look), the Potomac (which I crossed), grassy fields, dense deciduous forests with a few conifers thrown in here and there, and a short stretch of swampland just north of Alexandria which I imagine might resemble the Florida Everglades in miniature. In all, a very nice ride. The path also crosses right under one of the landing paths for Reagan National Airport, so if you're into that sort of thing you can take a break and lay in the grass watching the planes glide over your head so close it almost feels like you could reach up and touch them.

One note about this ride: As a bonus to the nice scenery the path is well-signed so once you're on it you'll have no trouble knowing where to go. The problem is in accessing the path in the first place. I searched high and low for directions from downtown D.C. to the entrance to the bike path on the 14th Street Bridge across the Potomac. I knew there was a bike path there, but I also guessed getting on that path might be a trick. I couldn't find any web directions, so I had to go down there and poke around. What I learned was that you actually need to access the bike path from a point just behind the Jefferson Memorial. If you're in downtown D.C., the best way to get to that point might be to head to the Mall, cross over, and follow Independence along the tidal basin until you find yourself behind the Jefferson Memorial. More directly, you can take 15th street past the White House and the Washington Monument, and just stay on it across Independence Ave. until, again, you're behind the Jefferson Memorial. You'll see the asphalt bike path to your left. (This map might help a little.) D.C. desperately needs more bike routes and dedicated bike paths, but even more crucial and easily-accomplished would be better signage for the bike routes that already exist.

I realize I am biased, but really, there's something about seeing the world from a bike that makes the world more beautiful. I'm ashamed and a bit sad to admit this was my first little ride of the summer. I envy Scoplaw, who seems to be spending the summer biking a lot and reading and writing (and writing about) poetry. I'm quite sure more biking and poetry (or perhaps really compelling novels) would make my summer infinitely better. To that end, I may begin commuting to work by bike. I wonder how well this garment bag pannier works...

Posted 05:07 AM | Comments (2) | life generally

WIR #2: Advisements, Orientation, Investigations

Last week was only the second week of my summer public defender internship. It feels like I started about a month ago, but last week was only week two. At this rate, it's going to be a long summer—not because I'm not liking the job, but simply because the 11-hour days make such a demanding schedule that my mind and body is rebelling against. That aside, last week was highlighted by two days of advisements, an orientation session for interns, an office barbecue, and my first "in the field" experience trying to find and interview witnesses for a case.

Advisements are interesting, but I feel pretty useless doing them. As interns, we basically go to court to sit through arraignments and make sure defendants who want and qualify for a public defender get our contact and information and we get theirs. It seems some people are surprised to learn that public defenders aren't free, and that not everyone can get a public defender—the service is only available to people below a certain income threshold. If you make too much money, you can still get a court-appointed attorney, but you'll get a private attorney who has agreed to be called upon by the court for those purposes. Also, even if you get a public defender, you may still have to pay a nominal fee for your attorney—but only if you lose. In advisements, the judge advises the accused of their charges and asks for their plea. If they plead not guilty, the judge asks if they have an attorney or if they'd like the court to appoint one for them. If they ask for court-appointed counsel, the judge asks them some income questions and they fill out some paperwork. Once all that's complete and they qualify, interns like me will get more contact information from them, and make sure they understand they need to call our office soon so the public defenders can help them with their case. Then they ask us questions about their chances and the charges against them and what kind of jail time they might be facing. This is the frustrating part because my only answer is: Call this number and your attorney can answer all your questions. It's so nice to be helpful.

The orientation session was another exercise in how much I don't know, with the lead attorney giving us a fact pattern and asking us to think of all the factual and legal questions we'd want to ask if faced with this case. I spotted a good, oh, 5% of the issues. Why was I chosen for this job? The fact that many of my fellow interns claimed to be just about as clueless as I was only made it slightly better. The good news: The attorneys know we know nothing, so, as I was advised before beginning, they're unlikely to give us enough rope to hang ourselves. Little lessons learned: You have no reasonable expectation of privacy in a telephone number so a search of your phone records is generally ok. Search warrants generally require probable cause, but if a tenant has abandoned an apt., a search may be ok w/out probable cause because the tenant has relinquished his/her 14th Amendment right to privacy. It's very hard to win an argument that police used impermissibly suggestive ID procedures to identify witnesses. You can't ever suppress an arrest; you can only suppress illegal fruits (evidence) of an arrest. (I don't think I ever thought of trying to suppress an arrest, but apparently many people think of it, and it's not an option.)

The bottom line lesson of the orientation: We don't judge, we defend. We don't put people in jail, we try to keep them out—no matter what.

Quickly, the investigation assignment was also frustrating. I guess when you walk around a neighborhood asking random people if they have any information about a recent crime, the odds are rather low you're going to find someone who A) knows something worth listening to, and B) wants to tell you about it. So we spent about three hours and got about nothing for our time. Still, it was interesting, and I got the feeling that with more practice I might be able to learn to approach people in ways that might lead to better results. I'm sure I'll get more chances to try. That said, I don't think I have a bright future as a private investigator.

Today begins week #3, and although it will be a short week, it will be busy, including more advisements, filing a notice of appeal, and possibly beginning work on the appeal. I'm sure I'll also spend more time in court, about which more soon, including the invaluable lesson learned last week: Do not, under any circumstances, take your crack cocaine with you when you go to court. (IANAL (I am not a lawyer) and YMMV, but trust me, taking crack to court is just not a good idea.)

Posted 06:09 AM | Comments (3) | 1L summer

The Bee-log Habit

Sitting in Tryst (a coffee shop in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of D.C.—used to have a cool website but I can't find it now) reading blogs seems like a good time to mention those for whom the blogging never stops:

Blogging is a pastime for many, even a livelihood for a few. For some, it becomes an obsession. Such bloggers often feel compelled to write several times daily and feel anxious if they don't keep up. As they spend more time hunkered over their computers, they neglect family, friends and jobs. They blog at home, at work and on the road. They blog openly or sometimes, like Mr. Wiggins, quietly so as not to call attention to their habit.

Who needs work, friends, or any other diversions when there's blogging to be done? I mean, I'm sure I'd be enjoying my summer job a lot more if I'd never heard of blogging before. Damn this evil habit! ;-) Could it be that blogs are just another harsh technological mistress?

Perhaps what's most remarkable about this article is its obsession with making money. The writer seems completely flummoxed by the fact that people spend time blogging and get no money for it:

Some compulsive bloggers take their obligation to extremes, blogging at the expense of more financially rewarding tasks.

Mr. Wiggins has missed deadline after deadline at Searcher, an online periodical for which he is a paid contributor.

Barbara Quint, the editor of the magazine, said she did all she could to get him to deliver his columns on time. Then she discovered that Mr. Wiggins was busily posting articles to his blog instead of sending her the ones he had promised, she said. "Here he is working all night on something read by five second cousins and a dog, and I'm willing to pay him," she said.

Ms. Quint has grown more understanding of his reasons, if not entirely sympathetic. "The Web's illusion of immortality is sometimes more attractive than actual cash," she said.

Gasp! People are doing something they enjoy rather than something that pays them money!?!? What is the world coming to!?

Anthony at Gates of the Mountains has a great response to this article:

To twist a Socratic paraphrase: although the unblogged life may still be worth living, the unlived life is definitely not worth blogging.

Very true, yet isn't one of the addicting facets of blogs the fact that one person's unlived life is the next person's thrilling adventure?

Am I living if I look around and tell you that the coffee shop is packed and one of the barristas is wearing a bright green t-shirt that says "Ithaca is COLD"? An older male patron is painting with watercolors and a young woman has taken a seat at his table and begun reading what look like coursepacks for college or graduate classes. They appear to be strangers, but they're willing to share. A woman has appeared at our table dressed in full biking gear, helmet and gloves and all. There's something about the smell of a biker that is not offensive, even if it is distinctive. People tend to sit in close proximity here. Next to me is a man who seems to have walked into the coffee shop w/a "venti" coffee from Starbucks. He ordered a water and is reading the paper. Some might call that rude, but perhaps he also ordered food? Tryst doesn't seem to mind. It takes all kinds. Even those of us with unlived lives that will nevertheless be blogged.

Posted 10:28 AM | meta-blogging

TiVo Home Media Trial

The Memorial Day weekend has given us a chance to catch up on a little televisual entertainment, and while playing with the TiVo we discovered that TiVo is currently offering a free trial of its "home media option"—the feature that allows you to stream your mp3s and photos from your computer to your tv via a wireless network. It also lets you schedule recordings via the web if you've forgotten to set your TiVo to record your favorite show (I've never felt a need for this feature, but there it is). Before trying it out, I didn't think the Home Media Option was really necessary, but now that I can sit on my couch and use the TiVo remote to thumb through every one of the thousands of mp3s and photos on my computer, I'm starting to think $100 isn't a bad price.

Cool things you should be able to do with this but currently can't:

1. Stream your photos/music to any TiVo you choose. Then you could share your photos/music w/your family and friends.
2. Watch photo slideshows while listening to your favorite mix of mp3s. Currently, you can either look at photos or listen to your mp3s, you can't do both at the same time. Lame.
3. Stream your iMovies or any other video on your computer to your tv. I'm guessing there are hacks to enable this, but I can't see what TiVo (or anyone else) would have to lose by making this possible right out of the box. (Perhaps worries that this will encourage people to download divX movies and stream them to their tvs?)

Times like this I realize that while the mac may be the most cruel of techno-mistresses, any technology can make you its impoverished plaything if you're not careful. I mean, one thing leads to another. You get cable and then you find new shows you must see. You're not around to see them all and you can't manage tapes in the vcr, so you get a tivo. Tivo saves lots of televisual entertainment, so you watch more and realize you need a better tv. And a sound system. And a home media option. And some home theater seating. And, and and....

Posted 09:56 AM | tv land

It Has Us

What is The Meatrix? Just a little food for thought on this big barbecue weekend. Now pass me another burger, will you? (Hormone- and anti-biotic free, and from a family farm, please. Thanks. More info here.)

Posted 12:18 PM | Comments (1) | life generally

Morgan Spurlock Supersized Me

I saw "Supersize Me" last night. Loved it. In some ways, it sort of seemed like Fast Food Nation lite, but if it's taking some of the core bits of that book's message to a larger audience, then that's fine with me.*

I have no deep thoughts on the film, but it was incredible to see how shocked the medical professionals involved were when they saw how destructive McDonald's food was to Spurlock's body. It certainly should make viewers think again before condemning the lawsuits charging fast food corporations with some culpability for the skyrocketing health care costs related to massive consumption of fast food. Speaking of which, the movie features an interview with GW's very own John Banzhaf, one of the leaders in the legal attack on fast food. He takes a lot of flack, and he'll probably take more now that everyone's seen him eating a meal at McD's with Spurlock. (It also probably wouldn't hurt if he cleaned up his office, but that's another story.)

In addition to the scene where Spurlock pukes after eating a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Supersize Meal, another highlight was the slimy lawyer interview (not Banzhaf; I don't remember his name).

"Why are you suing the fast food companies?" Spurlock asked.

The attorney gives him a shit-eating grin like, "you want me to lie?" and says: "You mean, you want some reason other than financial compensation? You want some higher moral purpose here?" The camera cuts away.

It's really no wonder people hate lawyers...

* Note: If you haven't yet read Fast Food Nation, I can't recommend it highly enough. It's not only about how bad fast food is for us, but it's also about how the fast-food model has revolutionized (for the worse) agricultural production and decimated traditional agricultural labor markets. It touches on how these developments affect many other areas of life, including education and international relations. It's a great, great book.

Posted 12:15 PM | ai movies